1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to scoring systems for military ranges.
2. Background Art
The armed services are required to continuously train and test the capability of troops to accurately and effectively deliver various types of ordinance to targets under battlefield conditions. Current methods used by the various services are limited in scope and capability. The shift to more extensive use of nighttime engagements has heretofore required the use in training of low level explosives (spotting charges) to determine points of impact. These charges are expensive and present both safety and environmental hazards. Many types of munitions cannot at present be scored in training scenarios.
The prior art in this area includes the following: U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,096, to Thomas et al, relates to laser bore-sighting of sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,564, to Alan et al, relates to vibration sensing of impacts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,689, to Goda, relates to simulated firings of sight-guided missiles employing painting of the target with laser light for a period of time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,106, to Love, relates solely to airborne targets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,838, to Daniel, relates to laser bore-sighting of sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,881, to Knight et al, relates to detection of the pressure wave of a projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,156, to Marshall et al, relates to simulated environments and weapons firings. U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,458, to Boeck et al, relates to a system which determines trajectories of objects employing a plurality of mobile data acquisition systems connected to a central station. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,581, to Goda, relates to simulation of firings of ballistic ammunition using lasers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,993, to Brown, relates to a system requiring a vertical projection screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,016, to Eichweber, relates only to simulations of firearms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,256, to Eichweber, relates only to firearms simulations requiring a retro-reflector. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,329, to Ward et al, relates to a system requiring radar. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,812, to Hill, relates only to firearms simulations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,424, to Rohrbaugh, relates to sensing of shockwaves. U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,854, to Eldridge, relates to a pure simulation system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,920, to Muirhead, relates to detection of radio frequencies generated by impacts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,546, to Cargill, relates to a sensor attached to the projectile itself. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,634, to McGary, relates to an algorithm for compressing image data in a target sensing system.
The present invention provides a scoring system capable of detecting and reporting delivery of a wide variety of ordinance in real time under daytime and nighttime conditions. Once calibrated, the system is straightforward to set up and use, including automatic selection of targets.